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“But—ow!” I exclaimed, because he had nipped my heel. “Hey, that hurt!”

“Get going!” His voice was almost a growl. “Come on—I didn’t bring you all this way for you to chicken out now. Cordelia said you need to go in the house, so you’re going.”

“I never met such a bossy cat before,” I said, but I found myself walking down the path and up the porch steps, which creaked with every step.

After all, it’s just a dream, I reminded myself. And I still didn’t feel any foreboding—though the place between my shoulder blades was itching like crazy, I didn’t feel like I was in any real danger.

I put the gryphon-headed lock in the keyhole of the front door—which also had a gryphon-headed brass door knocker—and it slid in easily and turned cleanly.

Then, with no idea of what I would find inside, I pushed the front door open and went inside.

3

GARRIK

I heard the creaking of the front door and sighed deeply. Damn it all, not another one! It was nearing All Hallow’s Eve, which meant that certain adventurous mortals were probably seeking excitement in my family's home again. Why couldn't they leave well enough alone? It was bad enough that I had been cursed to spend eternity haunting my own ancestral home without having idiots come wandering through it looking for a good scare.

In the century which I had been imprisoned in Blackthorn Manor, it had happened many times. People came upon the gate and found it open and made their way inside. The manor's front door was almost always locked…except when it was not. And those were the times when the Veil between this life and the next was thin—which it always was around this time of year. Unfortunately, some people seemed to think that an unlocked door was an invitation to come traipsing through another person's home. Had people in the modern world never heard of private property?

Well, I would just have to scare them away again. I couldn't risk anyone finding the Gateway, which my family had guarded for centuries. All kinds of terrible things could happen if it was opened by some blundering idiot who was looking for a good scare. Though I was cursed to remain in this damned house, I was still the Guardian of the Gateway and I intended to continue doing my duty, whether I had a body to do it with or not.

Luckily, it wasn't hard to frighten people away. I drifted through the grand reception hall where my darling Lucinda and I used to throw parties and looked around the corner. There, standing in the foyer, was quite a fetching sight.

She was a mature woman around my own age, (or the age I had been when I was cursed, anyway), with curves to spare—I loved a woman with curves. It was almost a shame to scare her away. But I hardened my heart at once. I couldn't have anyone bothering the Gateway, no matter how attractive they might be. Besides, what kind of woman went wandering into a strange house in the middle of the night? One with absolutely no sense, that was what kind.

With a snap of my fingers, I made the ancient chandelier hanging above her head blaze with light.

She gasped and looked up, one hand going to her heart, but she didn't immediately go running back out the door. Hmm, so this one had some courage—it would take more than a light show to scare her off. Or perhaps she was simply too foolish to know when she was in danger. Either way, I was glad I'd lighted the chandelier—at least now I could see her more fully.

She had pretty, delicate features but the clothing she was wearing wasn't very flattering—why was she wearing black long john bottoms? And the oversized garment she had on over them could hardly be described as a dress. It was more like a man's undershirt, but it was bright orange. Good heavens, was this what women wore in the modern world? It was a wonder they didn't all freeze to death!

The color did nothing for her complexion—she was pale, maybe with fright, which would make my task easier. She had long, wavy hair—dark brown with a silver streak over her brow that I quite liked. Her eyes were a luminous green as she stared around the foyer, which I had made certain was draped with several large, decorative spider webs. Sometimes the sight of one of the extra-large Wolf spiders I allowed to live there would scare a thrill-seeker off. They were useful creatures, those spiders, and I had grown quite fond of them. At least they knew better than to bother me.

But not this woman—she stood her ground. And then she took a tentative step further into my house, as though she had every right to be there!

Well, that was quite enough of that. It was time to pull out the big guns, as my father would have said. Drifting over to the mantelpiece, I twisted the fob on the gas lamp, casting a ghostly glow over the reception hall. Then I picked up the two tin plates I kept for the purpose and began banging them together as I drifted around the room.

"Ohhhhhh…Ohhhhhh!" I moaned, giving my best impression of a damned soul crying from the depths of Hell. It was a performance I had perfected over the years, if I did say so myself. Most people ran screaming for the door long before I reached the second verse of my lament.

I expected to hear the front door slam at any moment. Instead, the curvy woman who had been standing in the foyer made her way into the reception hall. What the devil was wrong with her? Couldn't she hear me? Or was she one of those foolhardy individuals who thought it amusing to challenge the supernatural?

"Ohhhh, it's hot down here! I burn…I burn!" I moaned even more loudly. Putting down the tin plates, I lifted a length of chain and began rattling it. "If only I had lived a better life! If only I were not damned to an eternity of torment in the flames!"

To my considerable annoyance, this didn't scare the woman off either. Instead, she stared right at me—as if she could actually see me—and held her ground. What could she be thinking?

Whatever it was, it was time to put an end to this farce. I had better things to do than spend all night frightening off an obstinate woman who apparently had no sense of self-preservation.

Dropping the chain with a loud clatter, I floated over to stand right in front of her.

"Leave here while you still can!" I growled, putting every ounce of menace I could muster into my voice. I shoved my face into hers, though I knew she couldn't see me. "Leave before I⁠—"

And then she slapped me!

I was so shocked I couldn't say or do anything at first. She had touched me—I had actually felt her hand connect with my cheek! The blow had been surprisingly hard, too, considering how small she was compared to me. The little minx had quite an arm on her!

It was the first time in over a hundred years, since I was cursed, that any living person had touched me. My cheek stung and it was the sweetest sensation I could ever imagine. I wanted to reach up and rub the place where her palm had struck my face, but I was afraid that doing so might somehow make the sensation disappear.

"Look, I don't know what you think you're trying to do, but stay out of my face while you do it!" she said, glaring at me. "And you look ridiculous moaning and banging those plates together and rattling a chain. How cliché can you be?"